Yet Miller was no one-hit wonder. He was offered Hollywood’s embrace, and he took it—but on his own terms. In 1973, William Friedkin cast him as Father Damien Karras in The Exorcist . Miller had no acting training; he was a playwright who stumbled onto a film set and delivered one of the most haunting performances in horror cinema. As the tormented priest who doubts his faith while battling a demon possessing a young girl, Miller brought a raw, exhausted authenticity. The scene where Karras whispers, “Take me,” before hurling himself out a window remains devastating.
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But success was a double-edged sword. Miller struggled with alcoholism, the pressures of sudden fame, and a restless artistic spirit. He turned down major roles (including in The Godfather Part II ) and retreated often to Scranton. His later plays— Nobody Hears a Broken Drum (1976) and The Brush —never matched his debut’s impact. He acted sporadically, appearing in The Exorcist III (1990) as a returned, broken Karras, and in films like Rudy (1993) as the priest who approves the young Rudy Ruettiger’s dream. Yet Miller was no one-hit wonder
Miller died on May 13, 2001, at age 62. In his final years, he ran a small theater in Scranton and taught drama. He remains a cult figure—a brilliant, haunted man whose Pulitzer-winning play is studied alongside Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, and whose single iconic film role still unnerves audiences. Miller had no acting training; he was a